Originally Posted by ewrbasedpilot

Recently I've had a few flight attendants that refused to upgrade some JS'ers at my request because they said "we might offend" some upgrades from coach.....you know, the folks who pay $85 for a ticket and buy a toaster, thereby earning enough points to make them "elite platinum gold diamond" status. Meanwhile, the employees who are busting their butts to make the airline work, are stuck in the rear of the plane in middle seats enjoying their "vacation passes", which are, in all accuality, WORTHLESS. Funny thing is though, is that these same FA's will GLADLY sit up front if offered the same seats. Go figure.... The CA is to be commended. I'll ALWAYS take care of the military when the opportunity is there to do so.

Originally Posted by Sink r8

I think this story is about false choices.

Take a principle that should be sacred to anyone, anyhwere: respect of the sick or wounded. Add another that should be sacred to everyone in this country: respect for our servicemen. Then a third, sacred in our world: the Captain has final authority.

Flip the coin. Change worlds. Go to the gatehouse.

You may find a small person, a small mind. Or maybe a zealot. Or even occasionally a good person. Their functions: 1) to allow access to the aircraft so that people may become subject to Captain's authority, 2) to determine where the person sit for a brief slice of time, between boarding, and the time the door is closed. Foolish as it is, their guiding principle is that they are in charge of the zoo outside. That's the only "power" they have. As far as they know, it's legitimate, because the company tells them it is.

The real problem, clearly, is that the company, intentionally or otherwise, doesn't define the limits of our authority in a way that's respectful of our profession, or of the principles we value.

Let me make an analogy, which may sound degrading on the surface. Don't focus on the fact I am using a dog as a comparison. I'm basing the anaology on the idea that dogs guard their turf as well as they can...

If a German shepperd is barking because you're trying to get into the yard, and there is a dispute as to whose yard it is, you don't try to play mind games with the dog. You don't try to educate someone else's animal: you try to change the owner's behavior. A good shepperd wants to listen to its' master. It doesn't want to chose between ignoring its' training, or ignoring the intruder's authoritary commands.

So it is a matter fo false choices, and this gate agent was not given any option that computes. Going along with the Captain would violate just about everything n their SOP's, or the culture ingrained in them.

I think the way you solve this is the way it is routinely solved: get the guys onboard, close the door and work it out within the world where captain's authority is (supposed to be) unquestioned. Meanwhile, you call the (assitant) CP as boarding goes on, if it's before 4:15PM, and ask them to grow a spine and intervene. Which of course will prove impossible. So you tell them you'll use your authority once onboard, and move them around. And they'll only be too happy to agree to it, because you give them the out the lets them ignore the absence of vertebrae inside their shirt.

THEN, and only AFTER the Marines had a (relatively) pleasant flight, when you get home, write your CP, and ask them for more clarity, and more respect for our authority, even outside the cockpit, from other groups. THEN, when they miserably fail to do anything of the sort, you try to get a concerted effort from the pilot group to defend the profession, and change the system, not the individual. You try to get your negotiators to change contractual language. THEN, while your group debates whether, or not, or how, and find whatever excuse not to move forward because Prater doesn't know how to do that anyway, you start writing. You write to the press, and you write to congress. You ask Congress to write a law stating that, Captains have the authority to upgrade military personnel, and military personnel have the right to accept. They promise a rider. It intially dies in committee, but you persist. So you write. You write on the web, and you lick envelopes. Etc.

You try to change the system. Not do a Vulcan mind-meld with the agent.

In the meantime, at least at my airline, it's pretty clear that the gate agent, as pathetic as it is, is not obligated to follow our principles, and has the right to assign seating at the gatehouse. And you have the right to unassign it when the doors close.

Originally Posted by 577nitro

Call me stupid, but I thought the CA had the final authority on all flights...about everything. However, it sounds like the FA run the plane to me.